


sit with you all day, i don't mind either way

by potentiallythiswillbegay



Series: i can stay [2]
Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Canon Compliant, First Kisses, Happy Ending, M/M, Michael has two moms, Mostly Fluff, boyf riends - Freeform, boys and emotions, maybe read the first story before this one, the entire squip squad is there but its focused on jeremy and michael with a bit more of rich, told in the ages of michael
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-19 16:18:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13708104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/potentiallythiswillbegay/pseuds/potentiallythiswillbegay
Summary: Michael was thirteen when he realised he was Jeremy’s family.michael mell and the things he realised as he grew up, told from the ages of thirteen to seventeen.





	sit with you all day, i don't mind either way

**Author's Note:**

> **tw: self harm mention in the 'michael was sixteen' section!!**
> 
>  
> 
> this is a michael parallel to my other fic 'if i'm home or with you, it's the same' so it might be easier to understand if you read that one first, but you do you!
> 
>  
> 
> this title, just like my other fic and the name of this series, is from the song 'stay' by reuben hudson. (it's a great song, feel free to check it out!)
> 
> just another note, i was absolutely blown away by the response to my other fic, thank you all so much! i've had a lot of stuff going on (hence why this took so long) and i haven't actually responded to any of the comments but I APPRECIATE YOU GUYS A LOT, THANK YOU!

Michael was thirteen when he realised he was Jeremy’s family.

It was his thirteenth birthday today. And he was home alone.

 “You’re old enough to take care of the house for two and a bit days, you’re twelve after all.” His mama had said with a kiss to his forehead as they had left the day before.

The afternoon sun disappeared and the natural light slowly dimmed until the only light in his bedroom was the glare of his computer screen. His headphones were on as the repetitive game music blasted in his eardrums and made him forget the outside world and just focus on the pixels moving and exploding on the screen.

Halfway through a jump his character was making, the laptop froze and the music cut out, forcing Michael to groan and shut down the computer. Pulling his headphones off and leaning back from his chair, he almost had a heart attack when he noticed a fluffy-haired thin boy standing outside the window, waving in to him.

Michael jumped up with a start and let Jeremy in, the window only just wide enough for him to slide in and land on the floor with a thud.

“Jeremy? What in the world are you doing here?” Michael said as Jeremy was putting down his backpack.

Jeremy raised an eyebrow and paused his movements. “It’s your birthday, dude. I messaged you to see if you were free, and you didn’t answer, so I called your home phone and no one answered. Then I had to persuade my mom to drive me over, and I knocked on your front door but you didn’t answer, then I noticed a light in your bedroom, so I came around and here we are- wait, why are you playing by yourself in your room on your birthday?” Jeremy let out in one breath, breathing heavily once he was done.

“My moms are gone, left me the house. I was bored so was just playing some video games.” Michael shrugged, taking a seat on his bed and gesturing for Jeremy to do the same.

“Michael! They left you here on your birthday?” Jeremy looked offended on his behalf.

“It’s no big deal-“

“Yes, it is!” he began rummaging through his bag until he pulled out a very thin, awfully wrapped gift. “Here. Happy birthday.”

Michael took it hesitantly. “What is it?”

“Unwrap it and you’ll know.”

“Did you wrap this?”

“Well... I'd call it made with love.”

“It’s… unique?”

“Just open it!”

Michael tore open the wrapping and saw the unmistakable label of a Magic: The Gathering card. He looked up at Jeremy with a smile and a tight throat, beaming even wider.

“Thank you, dude! This is awesome. You’re awesome.”

Jeremy shrugged but the blush on his cheeks from the praise stayed put. “No problem. Now, pack a bag for yourself.”

“Huh?” Now Michael was more confused.

“You’re not staying here alone, idiot. Grab your things and you can sleep over at my place.”

“I thought your mom didn’t like me staying over-“

“Because of your moms, yeah, but that’s stupid,” Jeremy stated simply. “And also, after she dropped me off here, she left to go out with her friends, so she can’t stop us.”

“Does that mean we’re walking?”

“Yes… sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

 

* * *

 

 

Michael was fourteen when it hit him that he wouldn’t forever be the only person in Jeremy’s life.

“It’s like a food chain, Michael. And we are freshmen at the very bottom.” Jeremy was saying as they walked through the hallways of Middleborough High School amongst the swarms of other students.

“I know, Jeremy. Thanks for the positive attitude.” Michael felt his voice soaked sarcasm, making him wince and feel a stab of guilt.

“Sorry.”

“No worries.”

The two made it to the cafeteria and collected their food in silence, only speaking again once they were sat outside away from a lot of the noise.

“I got the new Mario game, the Luigi one we were talking about the other day? You should come over so we can play it!” Jeremy said as they got comfortable.

“Yeah sure. Sounds good.” Even Michael could hear his voice lacking in enthusiasm.

Jeremy had noticed as well. “Dude, is something up? You’re acting off today.”

“I’m good. Just tired.” Michael smiled at him to stop him worrying. “I was up _way_ too late last night.”

“How much sleep did you get?”

“Like…. two hours?”

“Michael!”

“I’m fine!” Michael was smiling as he looked back down at his food. They ate in silence for a few seconds before Jeremy spoke again.

“Do you know Christine?”

“Who?”

“Christine Canigula. She’s in the Drama club?”

“I’m curious about how you know her, and why you’re bringing her up.”

“She’s in my English class. Do you think she’s like… pretty?”

“Jeremy.” Michael gave him a deadpan look. “I’m gay, I can’t tell what makes a girl romantically attractive.”

“I know, I know, I just wanted your opinion.” Jeremy was blushing. Okay, Jeremy was blushing. Michael could deal with this.

“Do you like her?”

“Don’t know.” Jeremy avoided Michael's questioning eyes but still had a clear blush and a small smile on his face. “Maybe.”

 

* * *

 

 

Michael was fifteen when he promised himself that he and Jeremy were permanent.

Permanent like a tattoo.

“Michael, are you sure? This isn’t reversible.” His mom said to him when he first asked for a tattoo.

“I’ve thought about it for a long time, I’m sure.” He had replied, gaining the support of his mama (who had also gotten a tattoo at fifteen) and the eventual support of his mom.

Jeremy couldn’t quite believe him either. “You’re actually getting a tattoo? When? What of!?” he was practically buzzing when Michael informed him the next day in his basement.

Michael shrugged and kept his focus on the game on the screen in front of them. “Not sure. Thought you could help me choose.”

Jeremy gaped at him, getting completely distracted from the game, his pixilated character dying with an explosion.

Michael paused the game with a questioning eyebrow. “Is it really that surprising that I asked that?”

“I guess not, but as of a minute ago I didn’t even know you were getting a tattoo, dude.”

“True.” Michael readjusted on the beanbag so he could face the other boy better, watching Jeremy do the same. “So. Any ideas for me?”

Jeremy suddenly had this (adorable) thinking look on his face. “Well, you're a geek who likes retro games, weird role-playing games and Bob Marley. Oh, you should get Bob Marley’s face!”

“Where would I get it?” Michael laughed as Jeremy's eyes became increasingly excited.

“On your face!”

The two boys dissolved into laughing, randomly throwing out not-so-serious suggestions in hopes to make the other laugh harder.

“What about Pacman? I'm just imagining...” Jeremy leant back and imitated the Pacman noise, making Michael laugh before the idea really settled.

“You know what, I actually love that idea.” Michael smiled once he and Jeremy finished laughing hysterically.

“Wait, actually?” Jeremy sounded like he was doubting his own ability to even suggest a good idea.

“Yeah! Imagine if I get, like... a Pacman and pellets,” Michael was drawing with his finger across his arm, reaching for Jeremy's arm as well, “and then you can get pellets and the ghosts!”

Jeremy laughed. “Why can’t I get Mrs Pacman!?”

“Oh.” Michael wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at him, both of them ending up laughing on the floor.

 

* * *

 

 

Michael was sixteen when he and Jeremy were just two geeky juniors and nothing more.

Michael was sixteen when he was left alone at the mall by his best friend.

Michael was sixteen when Jeremy kept staring right through him.

Michael was sixteen when he spent an hour scratching at his arm as if he could dig out ink with his fingernails alone.

Michael was sixteen when he had a full-on breakdown in a bathroom at a Halloween party he wasn’t invited to.

Michael was sixteen when he decided to become the hero his best friend maybe needed.

 

* * *

 

 

Michael was sixteen when he realised that maybe more than one friend was good.

“Did you hear about what happened in the play?”

“Drugs!?”

“Chloe Valentine and Jake Dillinger were even there!”

“Some kid... Michael? He called the ambulance on them.”

“They were all juniors.”

“Apparently the drama teacher drugged them!”

(Michael much preferred that the students thought it was Mr Reyes, rather than Jeremy.)

It had taken about a week before the drama had died down and Michael stopped getting stared at for being some kind of saviour/villain.

“Headphones!” A yell from down the hallway made Michael turn his head in surprise, one hand jumping to the headphones over his ears. A few students turned at the noise but quickly lost interest, and the source of the voice came running through the crowds of students until he reached Michael.

“Headphones! Guess who’s back!” Rich beamed, pointing to himself.

“Good to see you, dude.”

During Rich's time in the hospital, both before and after Jeremy was there, Michael and Rich had talked a lot and actually become friends. Post-SQUIP Rich was surprisingly geeky, as well as very loudly bisexual. He had sincerely apologised for everything, even though he had always harassed Jeremy more than Michael, and Michael had found himself over the past few weeks genuinely enjoying hanging out with the shorter boy 

“Hey, where’s Jeremy? Isn’t he always by your side?” Rich asked, turning his head and looking around.

“Um, he’s probably with Christine.” Michael shrugged, and Rich’s eyes widened.

“They got together?!” Rich seemed... surprised?

“Uh... yeah. You gave him advice in the hospital about it, remember?”

Rich waved his hand dismissively. “Didn’t think it would happen. Are they cute together?”

Michael shrugged again. “Guess so. They’re both happy.” Rich just nodded and only then did Michael really notice the stares at him. Or rather, stares at the shorter boy in front of him. And Michael could technically see why, but he couldn’t see how it mattered.

Rich was wearing a basic t-shirt, and the scars that cover his entire body were, well... there. Poking out from the collar, travelling down his arms, the skin looking painfully raw. While Michael had seen Rich in hospital after his cast had first been removed, the rest of Middleborough hadn't.

Rich didn’t seem to notice him drifting into his head as he spoke again. “Weird to be back. I can’t even imagine the stories that got out.”

“You probably don’t want to.”

“What were the gossip stories about the play like?”

Michael shuddered. “Bad. But everyone seems to have calmed down about it now.” He glanced around once more. “Thank fuck.”

Rich grinned despite it all. “Gotta love gossip.”

“That’s high school for you.”

“Gotta love high school.”

 

* * *

 

 

Michael was seventeen when he found himself trusting more people in his life.

“What do you popular kids do at parties?” Christine was asking Chloe with a smile as their group of eight lounged in Brooke's living room.

“Y'know... drinking games, sex-“

“Chloe!” Brooke chided her, and Christine looked slightly horrified.

“That’s what it’s like though,” Jake confirmed from the couch behind Christine's head.

“Popular parties sound like they suck.” Christine decided.

Michael was watching the whole conversation with a look of amusement, this casual party being a massive improvement from the last one he attended.

Jeremy was passed out on the opposite couch to Jake, lying next to Michael with his head resting on his lap, his own birthday party having exhausted him.

“Let's do truth or dare!” Rich announced suddenly, scaring Brooke.

“Really?” Jenna deadpanned.

“Yeah! Why not?”

“Because we're not fourteen?”

“The concept of truth or dare is ridiculous anyway. Everyone picks truth, then you just lie.” Michael shrugged. Rich turned to him with an intrigued look.

“Okay. Truth or dare?”

“Truth,” Michael answered after a slight pause.

“Everyone picks truth, what’s this then?” Rich pointed between Michael and Jeremy, and almost everyone else in the room smiled mischievously.

“Yeah Michael, what’s going on with you two?” Christine chimed in, leaning forward eagerly with a smile.

“I- uh, what do you mean?” Michael managed to stumble out.

“Do you like him?” Brooke asked.

“I...” He dragged out the sound as he tried to think of how to word his response, “I don’t like him any more than is necessary.”

Chloe, Jenna and Rich all gave him scarily identical ‘Really?’ faces.

“You realise he’s asleep, right?” Chloe rolled her eyes at him, not unkindly.

Michael let his shoulders drop a bit. “What do you want me to say? I used to have a thing for my best friend, then a fancy magic pill changed shit, but now I might be having feelings for him again?”

Everyone went silent, until Christine (bless her heart) spoke softly. “We're not trying to pressure you into saying or doing anything.”

“I know.”

Silence again.

“I don’t mind you guys knowing. Just... don’t tell him or anything.”

Everyone confirmed their silence, and everyone was serious for about 0.2 seconds until Jake accidentally rolled off the couch onto Chloe, sending them both into yells, waking Jeremy up.

“The fuck?”

 

* * *

 

 

Michael was seventeen when Jeremy was there and he couldn’t think straight.

They were sat in front of Jeremy’s laptop, Deadpool playing on the screen and lighting up the familiar basement. The candles belonging to Michael’s moms were flickering, a sweet smell of vanilla filling the room and both boys’ noses.

Michael was 100% not paying attention to the movie in any way, shape or form.

Okay, it wasn’t entirely his fault.

His small amount of ‘feelings’ for his dork of a best friend had somehow expanded beyond his control, and the minimal lighting and semi-intimate feeling of the basement made Jeremy look particularly beautiful.

It also didn’t help that he was running off five hours of sleep over the past two days.

“Are you even paying attention, dude?” Jeremy’s voice snapped him out of his head, and he turned to face the taller boy (Because that’s what they still are, he realised. Boys.).

“…No,” Michael replied honestly, his voice not much more than a breath.

“Yeah, neither am I, honestly,” Jeremy answered in a similar voice.

Michael moved slightly, so instead of leaning back against the head of the bed with Jeremy, his head was in the other boy’s lap.

At that point he must have fallen asleep, or into a half-asleep daze, because he woke up the next morning with his glasses on his bedside table, his head on Jeremy’s chest, and- wait, HIS HEAD ON JEREMY’S CHEST?

Michael sat up quickly, hoping the closeness hadn’t made Jeremy uncomfortable, only to find that Jeremy was absolutely fast asleep and his arm had actually been around Michael’s shoulders.

Well… shit.

He slid off the bed slowly, sitting on the floor at the end of the bed with his knees brought up to his chest.

 _“Because I want to kiss you.”_ Fuck, he had said that, hadn’t he?

What the hell had he done now?

“Micah?” Apparently, Jeremy was awake now and sitting next to him.

Fucking shitballs on a tricycle. “Hey.”

“What’s going on”

 _Nothing much dude, just terrified that I’ve fucked up our friendship forever._ “How tired was I last night?”

The change of looks on Jeremy’s face told Michael that he remembered. “You were, uh… pretty tired. Kind of… delirious?”

This was not good. Jeremy remembered. Jeremy might judge him, Jeremy might do the pitiful “…Ohh.” that Michael absolutely dreaded.

“It was kinda cute as well.” Michael snapped his head up and couldn’t help the shocked expression on his face.

“W-What?”

“Yeah.”

Michael still needed to explain himself, didn’t he? _Well, here goes nothing._ “So… about what I said… last nigh-“

“I’d really like it!” Jeremy burst out. Michael stopped speaking and just stared at him, admiring the way his cheeks flushed, and then his words started to sink in. _What the fu-_ “If, uh, you meant what you said, and you’re not still deliriously tired. I’d like to.”

Michael couldn’t stop his smile even if he wanted to, as he placed his hand gently on Jeremy’s cheek.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

With his hand on Jeremy’s cheek, and Jeremy’s open expression, Michael quickly leaned in to him.

And they were kissing. Michael and Jeremy. No, MichaelAndJeremy, because at this point they weren’t much more than one being. Michael was holding Jeremy’s face, Jeremy had his arms wrapped around Michael’s shoulders, and they were kissing.

Jeremy pulled back after a little while, letting out a light breath and leaning his head forward onto Michael’s shoulder. And Michael just smiled. Because everything felt so light, and that was maybe all he could do for now.

Michael was seventeen when everything fell together in a wonderful collection of happiness, and Jeremy was right there with him.

**Author's Note:**

> EDITED ENDNOTE:  
> here's the end of this little two-parted idea. i thought about writing for the rest of the squip squad but... let's just say i have issues with involving myself in this fandom.
> 
> hope you enjoyed!


End file.
